I AM pleased that Roger Tucker has had such good service from the ambulance service (ViewPoints, July 5). The experience I had on October 6, 2012 will affect me for the rest of my life.

I was unable to sleep because of severe stomach pain. My wife called the out-of-hours GP who duly arrived at 10am. He diagnosed a urinary tract infection but because I was in such pain he though I might have an appendicitis.

He phoned the JR to speak with the duty surgeon who agreed, saying I should be brought in as a surgical emergency. The GP phoned for an emergency ambulance but I waited seven hours for it to arrive.

I was in so much pain I phoned 999 at 3pm to be told by the ambulance controller that as I had no chest pain or trouble breathing I would have to wait.

At 5pm a paramedic arrived in his ambulance car and took me to the JR. By this time I was in excruciating agony.

As it happens I had extreme urinary retention caused by my MS, my bladder was so stretched it will never work again and I have to self-catheterise for the rest of my life. If the ambulance had arrived on time this would probably not be the case.

ROGER KEABLE Burwell Drive Witney